Powerbanks please educate me on the best brands

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Some time ago we were given a small Sena powerbank to use on charging Sena headsets as a gift. In no time it got used to charge phones and cameras. It actually was quite a damn nifty thing to carry on the bikes with us.

But not 2 years and many charges later its time is up. The question is which are good brands for powerbanks and any suggestion on a small unit that is compact and maybe a 10000-160000mah charge?

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Great question! I am biassed by my experience with a sponsor of the project 990 bike, Antigravity Batteries, but I've been extremely happy with all their stuff. I use the Sena one too and like that because my older gen XP-10 doesn't register the lower amp draw of my Sena and will turn off thinking nothing is plugged in, so I charge it in combination with my phone (it has two usb ports) and that works fine.

I've had this XP-10 for over three years now and it's like some kind of miniature nuke plant or something! They claim it's the number 1 selling item in the US. It will jump start a freight train and lasts about 5 days of just charging my phone and other stuff at night. However, most motorcyclists prefer their smaller ones like the XP-1 or the Sport. My kids love it so much I couldn't keep them from hogging it so I bought another one.

I know it's a big category. I know they're all made in China. I know some have exploded or caught fire (no Antigravity ones to my knowledge) but it helps to pick a trusted name. My first one did swell and they replaced it with no questions. It may have been my fault; it could have been exposed to excessively high temperatures.

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Thanks Eric! This is interesting, I haven't thought of one that can double as a starter pack for the bike. The old ones was very heavy and bulky. Sure if Antigravity has one that is relatively small and compact and can do duty to start a bike it would be wonderful. The little Sena one was really nifty and worked well but it had its time.
Do you know if the Antigravity has a SAE connector option? I fitted SAE connectors to our bikes to run the stuff in the our tankbags and they are directly connected to our batteries so will work when trying to jumpstart the bike.

I see the Sport only weighs 244grams! That's good stuff and can start a car with it.
About their bike batteries, are they good to start in cold conditions? Can you jumpstart if the battery is flat ir must you have a special charger?

I agree with you on a good brand, some rubbish or no-name ones works for a few months then die, or like you say they burn or stuff like that. I would rather pay the premium for a brand and have recourse if the damn thing fail. And have their backing knowing the thing works.

As for cold starts no but yes. They have to be "warmed up" so what I do is turn the key and my headlight comes on, creates a draw and gradually warms up the battery. In 5 min it starts strong. You can jumpstart a battery and their latest bike battery comes with a special "reserve" jump start option that saves enough power to give it one more start. @Bryan Bosch is running one on his 690 now.

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I checked and it seems we had a distributor in South Africa, one dealer still stock some of their stuff but at stupidly inflated prices, the type of prices that borders on rape. Since we are back here for a couple of months thought I can them and the SPORT pack to take back to Peru.
Just emailed AntiG in the USA will hear what they have to say.

How does they perform when you have to crank the engine over for a while when example when the bike does not want to start right away? Can they go for a few times cranking over?

Edited June 3, 2018 by michnus

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Great question! I am biassed by my experience with a sponsor of the project 990 bike, Antigravity Batteries, but I've been extremely happy with all their stuff. I use the Sena one too and like that because my older gen XP-10 doesn't register the lower amp draw of my Sena and will turn off thinking nothing is plugged in, so I charge it in combination with my phone (it has two usb ports) and that works fine.

I've had this XP-10 for over three years now and it's like some kind of miniature nuke plant or something! They claim it's the number 1 selling item in the US. It will jump start a freight train and lasts about 5 days of just charging my phone and other stuff at night. However, most motorcyclists prefer their smaller ones like the XP-1 or the Sport. My kids love it so much I couldn't keep them from hogging it so I bought another one.

I know it's a big category. I know they're all made in China. I know some have exploded or caught fire (no Antigravity ones to my knowledge) but it helps to pick a trusted name. My first one did swell and they replaced it with no questions. It may have been my fault; it could have been exposed to excessively high temperatures.

These look great! A buddy of mine had one on our last trip and I was totally impressed with his ability to charge all gadgets off the bike. This is on my list! Looking forward to feedback on the best units and prices...

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@michnus I've never had an issue with jump starts depleting the battery. I've seen it go from 5 lights to 3 and they say don't try to jump with less than 3 lights but haven't had an issue ever.

I've seen some videos on YouTube of people hacking these to daisy chain them and using them to weld! Not safe!

You may find some deals on Amazon or eBay. I remember their XP-10 was going for about $180 retail but you could find for $110 on Amazon. The Sport is probably even less.

I did a comparison article on pumps and found theirs to be the cheapest, lightest and with the most features (gauge, light, screw on valve) out of all of them. I still have mine and have used it for three years. It's not the strongest pump (like the Motopump better) but will do the job.

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+1 for the Micro starts. I've used one myself and it's a great dual purposes item when you need to conserve on space. If I'm traveling somewhere close I just bring along my cheap amazon Power Add system, 20000mAh capable of multiple cell phone charges.